Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 19 (2012) 124–132

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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jretconser

Website usability, consumer satisfaction and the intention to use a website:

The moderating effect of perceived risk
Daniel Belanche a,1, Luis V. Casaló b, 2, Miguel Guinalı́u a,n
a
Departamento de Dirección de Marketing e Investigación de Mercados, Facultad de Economı́a y Empresa, University of Zaragoza, Gran Vı́a 2, 50005 Zaragoza, Spain
b
Departamento de Dirección de Marketing e Investigación de Mercados, Facultad de Empresa y Gestión Pública, University of Zaragoza, Ronda Misericordia 1, 22001 Huesca, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 12 November 2011 This paper analyzes the influence of website usability on both consumers’ satisfaction and intention to
Keywords: use a website, as well as the impact of satisfaction on usage intentions. Additionally, we study the
Usability moderating effect that consumer risk perceptions may have on the influence of website usability.
Satisfaction Results show that website usability affects satisfaction which in turn affects intention to use. Contrary
Intention to use to expected, usability does not directly affect intention to use but has an indirect effect through
Perceived risk consumer satisfaction. Finally, the usability effect on consumer satisfaction is moderated by
Online consumer behavior perceived risk.
& 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
According to Oneupweb (2010), in the context of online transac-
tions, online users’ mainly expect websites that facilitate their
purchases. In this line, 95.5% of users expect pricing and shipping
information to be clearly presented, so usability must be an essential
component of e-retail strategy.
Website usability can be defined considering the following
aspects (Flavián et al., 2006): (a) the ease of understanding the
structure of a website, its functions, interface and the contents that
can be observed by the user; (b) simplicity of use of the website in its
initial stages; (c) the speed with which the users can find what they
are looking for; (d) the perceived ease of site navigation in terms of
time required and action necessary in order to obtain the desired
results; and (e) the ability of the user to control what they are doing,
and where they are, at any given moment.
Analogously to merchandising in offline stores, when a customer
accesses to an online store, usability issues may affect customer’s
perceptions and behaviors. Thus, more usable websites tend to
create more positive attitudes toward online stores and increase
conversion rates, whereas less usable websites have the opposite
effect (Becker and Mottay, 2001).
Considering the influence of usability on website performance,
online retailers require a full understanding of this variable. Previous
literature in the field of retailing has studied the concept of usability,
especially as a component of quality of service (Ladhari, 2010).
However, the integration of usability management in the e-business
strategy and the role of perceived risk are outstanding issues. This
research allows us to understand the relevance of usability on
strategic indicators of companies’ success analyzing the influence
of perceived usability on the levels of consumer satisfaction and
intention to use a website. Moreover, although the Internet shopping
has been proposed to involve more risk than traditional shopping
(Lee and Turban, 2001), different consumers may perceive different
levels of risk in the same online environment. Thus, this research
contributes to the literature analyzing whether risk moderates the
influence of perceived usability on consumer satisfaction and inten-
tion to use a website.
Bearing these considerations in mind, we structure the remain-
der of this article as follows. In the following section we formalize
the working hypotheses. Next, data collection and measure valida-
tion processes are explained, followed by the results of the analyses.
Finally, we discuss the main conclusions, managerial implications,
and limitations of the study, as well as some possibilities for future
research.
2. Hypotheses formulation

Traditionally, several authors have stated that satisfaction –

defined as an affective condition that results from a global
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 976761000x4695; fax: þ 34 976761667. evaluation of all the aspects that make up a relationship – is a
E-mail addresses: belan@unizar.es (D. Belanche),
lcasalo@unizar.es (L.V. Casaló), guinaliu@unizar.es (M. Guinalı́u).
crucial antecedent of re-purchase and re-usage intentions of a
1
Tel.: þ34 976761000x4636; fax: þ 34 976761667. product or service (e.g. Oliver, 1980; Anderson and Sullivan,
2
Tel.: þ34 976761000x4695; fax: þ 34 976761667. 1993). Focusing on the new technologies context, satisfaction

0969-6989/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2011.11.001
 D. Belanche et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 19 (2012) 124–132
with prior use is also found to be the strongest predictor of users’
continuance intentions (Bhattacherjee, 2001). In the same line,
Devaraj et al. (2002) measured customer satisfaction in the
e-commerce context and supported empirically that satisfaction
is a key determinant of customer channel preference. More
recently, researchers have found that satisfaction positively
affects loyalty intentions toward online shopping (Chiu et al.,
2009) and boosts the use of Internet portals (Lin et al., 2005),
e-services (Liao et al., 2007) and online communities as well
(Liu et al., 2010).
Broadly speaking, literature supports that satisfied consumers
exhibit a greater intention to use firm’s products, have a greater
re-purchase intention, favor positive word-of-mouth and have a
lower to look for alternative providers (Oliver, 1999; Kim et al.,
2009). Consequently, it is expected that once users achieve
certain levels of satisfaction with prior use of a website, the
perceptions of satisfaction will influence their re-usage inten-
tions. Thus, we propose our first hypothesis:
H1. Consumer satisfaction has a positive effect on consumer inten-
tion to use a website.
In one of the first works focusing on the determinants of
satisfaction in online exchanges, Szymanski and Hise (2000) noted
the ability of website design to promote satisfactory purchase
experiences. This result has been supported by several authors
afterwards. For example, Kim and Eom (2002) concluded that
usability is of critical importance in achieving user satisfaction.
More recently, Maditinos and Theodoridis (2010) pointed out that
both quality of the interface and of the information provided to
consumers (two key aspects of website usability) have a significant
effect on the levels of users’ satisfaction.
We must also note that making the purchase easier is one of
the main motivations of consumers’ online purchasing (Bridges
and Florsheim, 2008). Therefore, when visiting a website, con-
sumers expect to find a channel whose features facilitate search,
selection, payment and post-purchase actions. Consequently, it is
reasonable to say that satisfaction with the purchase experience
depend on website ease of use (Shankar et al., 2003). Complex and
not intuitive interfaces, long purchasing processes, non-updated
information or non-relevant information create an interaction
atmosphere that negatively affects consumer satisfaction. Accord-
ing to all these ideas, we propose the following hypothesis:
H2. Perceived website usability has a positive effect on consumer
satisfaction.
However, literature on online consumer behavior found that
usability impact is even more relevant since it not only affects
satisfaction but also favor future purchase intentions. In this
respect, Flavián et al. (2006) found that usability positively affects
consumer loyalty to a website. As well, Abdeldayem (2010) noted
that attitudes toward online shopping and the intention to shop
online are affected by ease of use. Therefore, we propose in our
third hypothesis that:
H3. Perceived website usability has a positive effect on consumer
intention to use the website.
2.1. Moderating effect of perceived risk
Focusing on the online context, the importance of risk percep-
tions is evident when conducting an e-purchase. Compared to
traditional shopping, online commercial establishments are less
known to consumers (Lee and Turban, 2001), and the absence of
face-to-face interaction has introduced more uncertainty and risk
(Wu and Chen, 2005). Apart from risk associated with intang-
ibility and time lag, customers have to release personal and
125
financial data to not always well known providers (De Ruyter
et al., 2001). Moreover, the outcome of this process depends on
the behavior of the e-marketer and this is not within the
consumer’s control (Lee and Turban, 2001). Therefore, perceived
risk is a relevant parameter, especially in the early stages of a
process of customer adoption of online purchase of products and
services (De Ruyter et al., 2001; Hsu and Chiu, 2004).
As a result of numerous online frauds and piracy crimes in the
network, users need more and more signs to make sure that
financial and personal information is under their control and that
privacy and security are guaranteed. In doing so, usability could
be understood as a sign of competence, ability and honesty by the
organization hosting the website. Firms often use signals to
communicate the level of some unobservable quality, especially
to reduce the information asymmetry between buyers and sellers
(Schlosser et al., 2006). Since an online transaction is usually
unobservable by consumers before purchase (Schlosser et al.,
2006), website usability might serve to demonstrate that the
company is able to provide high-quality services and understands
and is sensitive to online consumers’ fears. Besides, consumer
perceptions about their own control of the online transaction
process could be increased by perceived usability (Casaló et al.,
2007), since greater usability is associated to low levels of
difficulty to manage a system (Davis, 1989). That is, users
perceptions of their own skills depend not only on their experi-
ence but also on the usability of the website (Flavián et al., 2006).
In those cases in which consumers perceive high risk in an
online transaction, website usability may help reduce this uncer-
tainty and thus its effect in forming consumer satisfaction and
intentions to use a website may be reinforced. To be precise,
consumers perceiving high risk would more likely try to eliminate
any suspicion when interacting with the website. Usability com-
municates information about performance, thus consumers might
infer that a company that has invested in usability and website
design can successfully handle online transactions (Schlosser
et al., 2006). Thus, in a high-risk situation consumers will be
more prone to carefully analyze all the information about the
website and, as a result, website usability may help overcome
these fears and form a more favorable opinion of using a website.
In turn, when perceived risk is low, consumers will be less
influenced by usability perceptions since they do not need these
reinforcements to overcome worry about the possibility of non-
desired outcomes.
Taking into account the previous considerations we propose in
the following hypothesis a moderating role of risk in the effect of
usability on both satisfaction and intention to use.
H4. If perceived risk increases, the relationship between perceived
website usability and: (a) consumer satisfaction and (b) consumer
intention to use the website will be strengthened.
To sum up, the research model can be seen in Fig. 1.
3. Data collection
Data were obtained though a web survey targeted to the users
of a Spanish online retailer, which helped us to recruit partici-
pants. This practice is consistent with common online market
research (e.g. Steenkamp and Geyskens, 2006). To be precise, data
was collected among the users of a bus ticket e-selling service
offered by one of the most important transport companies in
Spain. It is important to note that only few companies operate
online in this sector in Spain.
In order to measure the variables, a structured questionnaire
containing closed questions was developed. This questionnaire
was designed to gather information about the studied constructs
126 D. Belanche et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 19 (2012) 124–132

measurements instruments, or the degree to which items correctly

Consumer represent the theoretical content of the construct. To be precise, our
Satisfaction measures were inspired by previous scales regarding perceived
H2: + website usability (Flavián et al., 2006; Roy et al., 2001), customer
satisfaction (Brockman, 1998; Severt, 2002; Janda et al., 2002; Smith
Perceived H1: + and Barclay, 1997; Guinalı́u, 2005), intention to use (Wu and Chang,
Usability 2005; Cronin et al., 2000) and overall perceived risk (Stone and
Grønhaug, 1993). These previous scales had been already proposed
H3: + on either a service or online context, so that adaption to our specific
Intention
context becomes natural. More efforts were needed to adapt the
to Use
overall perceived risk scale to the online context since the original
H4a H4b
scale was tested in offline shopping.
Due to this adaptation, face validity (the degree that respondents
Perceived Risk judge that the items are appropriate to the targeted construct) was
also tested through a variation of the Zaichkowsky method (1985),
whereby each item is qualified by a panel of experts (a total of
Note: “- - >” reflects hypotheses affected by moderation
8 people who are professionals in different disciplines such as
Fig. 1. Research model. marketing, sociology, new technologies and Internet) as ‘‘clearly
representative’’, ‘‘somewhat representative’’ or ‘‘not representative’’
Table 1 of the construct of interest. In line with Lichtenstein et al. (1990) an
Representative nature of the data collected. item was retained if a high level of consensus was observed among
the experts.
Current research AIMC (2009) RED.ES (2009)
project

Sample size 214 30,705 19,131 4.2. Exploratory analysis of reliability and dimensionality
Age (years)
o24 28.5% 24.4% 20.3%
25–34 27.6% 28.5% 30.5%
The validation process started with an initial exploratory analysis
35–44 18.2% 21.8% 24.7% of reliability and dimensionality (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988).
444 25.7% 25.2% 24.5% Cronbach’s alpha indicator was used to assess the initial reliability
Gender of the scales, considering a minimum value of .7 (e.g. Cronbach,
Males 52.3% 54.6% 52.7%
1970). The item-total correlation was used to improve the levels of
Females 47.7% 45.4% 47.3%
Cronbach’s alpha, considering a minimum value of .3 (De Vaus,
2001). For these initial tasks we used statistical software SPSS v.14.0.
All items were adjusted to the required levels.
and other data in order to provide a more detailed insight of the Second, we proceeded to evaluate the unidimensionality of the
socio-demographic characteristics of the user. Specifically, the scales proposed by carrying out a principal components analysis.
consumer was asked to indicate his/her level of agreement or Factor extraction was based on the existence of eigenvalues higher
disagreement with a series of statements about the perceived than 1. Moreover, it was required that factorial loadings were higher
usability and risk3 in the retailer’s website as well as their levels than .5 points and a significant total explained variance (Hair et al.,
of satisfaction and intention to use the website (see Appendix). All 1998). Construct validity was supported by principal component
questions related to construct used 7-point Likert scale. analysis with varimax rotation (see Table 2). After conducting the
Finally, this method of collecting data, which relies on volunteer exploratory factor analysis using all items together, only one factor
sampling, generated 214 valid questionnaires (atypical cases,
repeated responses and incomplete questionnaires were removed).
However, because we cannot statistically assess the reliability or
possible bias associated with this non-random sample, we compare Table 2
Principal components analysis with varimax rotation.
our sample characteristics with available information about a wider
population, that is, the socio-demographic characteristics of the Item Construct loadings
respondents to the largest studies of the online Spanish-speaking
population (AIMC, 2009; RED.ES, 2009). The results appear very Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4
Usability Int. to use Satisfaction Risk
similar in terms of the age and sex of the respondents (see Table 1),
which supports the representative nature of our sample. USAB1 .768 .115 .337  .070
USAB2 .830 .172 .132 .060
USAB3 .824 .160 .199  .035
USAB4 .864 .085 .186  .130
4. Measures validation USAB5 .839 .120 .274  .117
USAB6 .761 .066 .226  .181
4.1. Content and face validity USAB7 .733 .086 .304  .203
SAT1 .411 .333 .699  .133
SAT2 .547 .269 .664  .196
An initial set of items was proposed once the relevant literature
SAT3 .513 .230 .667  .222
was revised. This review guaranteed the content validity of the SAT4 .506 .252 .755  .138
IUSE1 .076 .896 .124  .092
IUSE2 .157 .914 .165  .140
3
In order to measure risk perceptions, Jacoby and Kaplan (1972) distin- IUSE3 .240 .752 .336  .219
guished between five risk dimensions in the overall construct – financial, RISK1  .066  .071  .203 .788
performance, psychological, physical and social risk – although not every transac- RISK2  .125  .158  .078 .889
tion involve all kind of risks. Consequently, in this work we decide to adapt a RISK3  .121  .147  .050 .918
general measure of overall risk (Stone and Grønhaug, 1993).
 D. Belanche et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 19 (2012) 124–132 127

was extracted from each scale corresponding to: usability, satisfac- Table 4
tion, perceived risk and intention to use. Convergent validity.

Item Loading t-value Item Loading t-value

4.3. Confirmatory analysis of dimensionality
USAB1 .826a 14.051 SAT1 .817a 12.361
USAB2 .790a 15.308 SAT2 .912a 15.696
With the aim of confirming the dimensional structure of the
USAB3 .822a 14.993 SAT3 .882a 14.563
scales, we used the Confirmatory Factor Analysis. That is, we USAB4 .872a 14.778 SAT4 .941a 16.334
included all individual-level constructs in a single confirmatory USAB5 .890a 15.800 IUSE1 .819a 13.086
factor model. In addition, this process also allows for a stringent USAB6 .782a 12.054 IUSE2 .956a 12.964
test of convergent and discriminatory validity (Steenkamp and USAB7 .786a 13.363 IUSE3 .823a 8.147
RISK2 .933a 12.352
Geyskens, 2006). We employed the statistical software EQS v.6.1. RISK3 .884a 10.752
As an estimation method we chose Robust Maximum Likelihood,
since it affords more security in samples which might not present a
Expresses that coefficients are significant at the level of .01.
multivariate normality. The criteria proposed by Jöreskog and
Sörbom (1993) were followed:
Table 5
 The weak convergence criterion, which supposes eliminating Discriminant validity.

indicators that do not show significant factor regression

Pair of constructs Correlation Standard 95% confidence interval
coefficients. deviation
 The strong convergence criterion, which involves eliminating
non-substantial indicators (those indicators whose standar- USAB–SAT .824a .031 .76324 .88476
USAB–IUSE .378a .067 .24668 .50932
dized coefficients are lower than .5).
USAB–RISK  .286a .077  .43692  .13508
 According to the suggestion of Jöreskog and Sörbom (1993), SAT–IUSO .566a .065 .4386 .6934
we also eliminated the indicators that least contributes to the SAT–RISK  .381a .084  .54564  .21636
explanation of the model, taking R2 o.3 as a cut-off point. IUSE–RISK  .349a .080  .5058  .1922

a
Expresses that correlations are significant at the level of .01.
Following these recommendations, we eliminated the item
RISK1 (see Appendix) and we finally obtained acceptable levels of
Table 3 shows that all values exceeded the .65 benchmark that
convergence, R2 (see Table 4) and model fit (Chi-square¼245.789,
literature suggests as acceptable (Steenkamp and Geyskens, 2006).
98 d.f., po.001; Satorra–Bentler scaled Chi-square¼160.565, 98
d.f., p ¼.00007; Bentler–Bonett Normed Fit Index¼.912; Bentler–
Bonett Nonnormed Fit Index¼.955; Comparative Fit Index
4.5. Construct validity
(CFI)¼ .963; Bollen (IFI) Fit Index¼.964; Root Mean Sq. Error of
App. (RMSEA) ¼.055; 90% Confidence Interval of RMSEA (.039;
Construct validity was assessed by considering two types of
.069); normed Chi-square¼2.5081).
criteria: convergent and discriminant validity:

4.4. Composite reliability a. Convergent validity. This shows if the items that compose a
determined scale converge on only one construct. We used the
Additionally, we used the composite reliability indicator to asses Average Variance Extracted (AVE) to contrast the convergent
construct reliability. Although Cronbach’s alpha indicator is the most validity and obtained acceptable values greater than .5, which
frequent test to assess reliability, some authors consider that it implies that items that compose a determined scale contain
underestimates reliability (e.g. Smith, 1974), so that the use of less than 50% error variance and converge on only one
composite reliability (rc) has been suggested (Jöreskog, 1971). construct (Fornell and Larcker, 1981), as Table 3 shows. We
also checked that the factor loadings of the confirmatory
Table 3 model were statistically significant (level of .01) and higher
Descriptive statistics, construct reliability and convergent validity.
than .5 points (Steenkamp and Geyskens, 2006). Results
Construct Mean S.D. rc AVE showed that all the indicators loaded significantly (po.001)
and substantively (all factor loadings went beyond .5) on their
Usability 5.01 1.16 .937 .681 proposed constructs, providing evidence of convergent validity
USAB1 5.13 1.19 of the measures (see Table 4).
USAB2 4.82 1.43
USAB3 4.98 1.42
b. Discriminant validity. This verifies if a determined construct is
USAB4 5.16 1.33 significantly distinct from other constructs that are not theore-
USAB5 5.14 1.38 tically related to it. To guarantee discriminant validity, correla-
USAB6 4.99 1.34 tions between the constructs must differ significantly at the .05
USAB7 4.88 1.41
level from 1 (Bagozzi et al., 1991). In this sense, we checked that
Satisfaction 5.40 1.17 .938 .791
SAT1 5.58 1.23 the value 1 did not appear in the 95% confidence interval of the
SAT2 5.35 1.32 correlations between the different constructs in any pair of
SAT3 5.24 1.32 constructs. Results showed an acceptable level of discrimination
SAT4 5.45 1.27 since all pairs satisfied this criterion (see Table 5).
Intention to use 6.08 1.10 .901 .754
IUSE1 5.82 1.32
IUSE2 6.14 1.18 5. Results
IUSE3 6.29 1.14
Risk 1.99 1.40 .904 .826 To test Hypotheses 1–3 we developed a structural equation
RISK2 2.05 1.48
RISK3 1.93 1.47
model. Fig. 2 shows the results corresponding to these hypotheses.
Results reveal the acceptance of hypotheses 1 and 2 to a level of .01,
128 D. Belanche et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 19 (2012) 124–132

while Hypothesis 3 was not supported. Besides, the model fit
showed acceptable values (Chi-square¼ 199.095, 74 d.f., po.001;
Satorra–Bentler scaled Chi-square¼129.3661, 74 d.f., p¼.00007;
Bentler–Bonett Normed Fit Index¼ .920; Bentler–Bonett Non-
normed Fit Index¼ .955; Comparative Fit Index (CFI)¼.964; Bollen
(IFI) Fit Index¼.964; Root Mean Sq. Error of App. (RMSEA)¼.059;
90% Confidence Interval of RMSEA (.042, .076); normed
Chi-square¼2.6905).
It was also notable that this simple model allow us to partially
explain both intention to use a website (R2 ¼.340) and satisfaction
(R2 ¼.678), which are two key factors to guarantee website success.
To be precise, according to the standardized estimations, we may
say first that customer satisfaction with a website is positively
influenced by the perceived website usability (l ¼.823; po.01;
t¼10.206), confirming hypotheses 2. At the same time, consumer
R2 = .678
Consumer
.823*
Satisfaction
t = 10.206
Perceived .785*
Usability t = 4.516
-.271(n.s.) Intention
t = -1.719 to Use
R2 = .340
Note: (*) expresses that coefficients are significant at the level of .01.
(n.s.) expresses that coefficients are non-significant.
Fig. 2. Structural equation model: standardized solution.
intention to use a website is positively affected by customer
satisfaction (b ¼.785; po.01; t¼4.516); however the influence of
website usability is slightly negative but non-significant (l ¼  .271;
p4.05; t¼  1.719). As a result, hypothesis 1 is confirmed whereas
hypothesis 3 is not supported. The non-significant effect of website
usability on intention to use a website is especially interesting since
in previous works, the role of usability in forming consumer
behavioral intentions has been confirmed (e.g. Flavián et al., 2006).
A first explanation for this non-significant direct effect might be
found in multicollinearity problems. To check this we calculated the
VIF (variance inflation factor) and contrasted that its value (2.544)
was lower than the acceptable limit of 10 points (Neter et al., 1990),
so that we have to think in additional explanations rather than
multicollinearity. In this respect, this non-significant effect might be
due to the fact that usability may not guarantee future intentions to
use the website if there are better alternatives available or, following
attribution and equity theories (Oliver and DeSarbo, 1988), if the
consumer perceive that the website is obtaining unfair benefits from
the relationship (i.e. the website is easy to use but the e-retailer is
obtaining a great market share because of this). As well, if there are
no alternatives available (as it might be in the sector we used to
collect data, which is very concentrated), using a given e-service
might be the only possibility for consumers even if it exhibits low
levels of usability. However, usability could positively affect inten-
tion to use a website indirectly through customer satisfaction. In
other words, intention to use a website might depend on the
development of consumer satisfaction, which emerges as a result
of the proper management of usability on the Web site. Thus,
although we posit that usability relates to future intention to use the
website, its influence might be mediated by consumer satisfaction.
Therefore, to examine the possible mediating role of customer
satisfaction, we develop four models using structural equation
modeling. We first analyze the direct effects of website usability
(Fig. 3, Panel A) and satisfaction (Fig. 3, Panel B) on intention to
use a website. According to Bloemer and de Ruyter (1998), an
initial condition to support a possible mediating effect is the fact

A (Direct Effect) B (Direct Effect)

.359* .558*
t = 4.595 t = 6.417
USAB I.USE SAT I.USE

R2 = .129 R2 = .311

χ2 = 99.799, 34 d.f., p < .05; NFI = .932; NNFI χ2 = 58.662, 13 d.f., p < .05; NFI = .944; NNFI
= .951; CFI = .963; IFI = .964; RMSEA = .071 = .945; CFI = .966; IFI = .967; RMSEA = .082

C (Full Mediating Effect)

.819* .551*
t = 10.148 t = 6.937
USAB SAT I.USE

R2 = .671 R2 = .304
χ2 = 204.017, 75 d.f., p < .05; NFI = .918; NNFI
= .954; CFI = .962; IFI = .962; RMSEA = .060

Note: (*) expresses that coefficients are significant at the level of .01.

Fig. 3. Structural equation models.

 D. Belanche et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 19 (2012) 124–132
Table 6
Multisample analysis: perceived risk.
Constraints Estimated coefficients
(lower perceived risk)
USAB–SAT .581a
t ¼6.934
USAB–I.USE  .199
t ¼  1.155
FIT INDICES NFI ¼.871,
NNFI¼ .947,
CFI¼ .957;
IFI ¼.958;
RMSEA ¼ .063
a
Expresses that coefficients are significant at the level of .01.
that these two direct effects must be significant. Specifically,
results show a positive effect of both usability (l ¼.359; p o.01;
t ¼4.595) and satisfaction (l ¼.558; po.01; t¼ 6.417) on inten-
tion to use a website. Thus, in the absence of any other determi-
nant factor, the direct effect of usability on intention to use a
website is positive. The next step would consist on including
satisfaction as a partial mediator; that is, allowing for both direct
and indirect effects (i.e., mediated through consumer satisfaction)
of usability on intention to use a website (note that this is the
model already shown in Fig. 2). In this situation, the direct effect
of usability on intention to use a website becomes non-significant
(l ¼  .271; p 4.05; t ¼ 1.719) suggesting that, at least, a partial
mediation of consumer satisfaction exists. Finally, the model
shown in Panel C (Fig. 3) depicts the indirect effect when
satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between usability
and intention to use a website. Then, this last model was nested
within the previous one, and a chi-square (w2) difference test was
performed to determine whether consumer satisfaction fully or
only partially mediates the effect of usability on intention to use a
website (Kulviwat et al., 2009). The test indicates that the partial
mediation model provides the best fit to the data (Dw2(1) ¼4.922,
p o.05). Thus, we may state that usability exerts an indirect effect
on intention to use a website through consumer satisfaction.
5.1. Multisample analysis
In order to assess the moderating role of perceived risk
(Hypothesis 4) a multisample analysis was performed. To do that,
we employed the statistical software EQS version 6.1. More specifi-
cally, we divided the total sample into two groups according to their
perceived risk in the selected website. Following Garcı́a et al. (2008),
total sample was divided into two groups according to the arithmetic
mean of the moderating variable. Around this mean we eliminated
some cases (71/2 standard deviation). The first group was formed by
107 cases representing consumers that showed a low perceived risk
in the selected website. The second group was formed by 90 cases
representing consumers with a high perceived risk. The risk mean for
the first group (M¼1.07) is significantly lower (t¼ 17.103; po.01)
than the mean for the second group (M¼3.26), which supports the
creation of these groups.
First, multisample analysis generates an individual structural
solution for each group. Fit indices for the whole multisample
analysis shows acceptable fit levels (NFI¼.859, NNFI¼.943,
CFI¼ .950); also fit indices for each subsample (reported in
Table 5) are close to the recommended values in spite of the
sample size reduction. Second, multisample analysis offers infor-
mation about the significance of the differences between the
coefficients of the two models. To assess these differences we
use the LM-Test. This contrast analyzes the variation of the
129
Estimated coefficients D.F. w2 differences Probability
(higher perceived risk)
.868a 1 4.047 .044
t ¼11.053
 .272 1 .008 .928
t ¼  1.082
NFI ¼ .879,
NNFI ¼.952,
CFI¼ .961;
IFI ¼ .962;
RMSEA ¼ .068
Chi-squared when the constraint of equalizing one of the coeffi-
cients is eliminated. Thus LM-Test assesses if the elimination of
this constraint supposes a significant change in the Chi-squared,
and as a consequence a significant improvement in the model fit.
Table 6 suggests that there is a significant difference between the
groups to a level of .05 for the relationship between perceived
usability and consumer satisfaction. To be precise, the effect of
perceived usability on satisfaction is strengthened when per-
ceived risk is high, which supports hypothesis 4a. On the contrary,
there is no significant difference on the other constraint consid-
ered, so that hypothesis 4b is not supported. Indeed, the direct
effect of usability on intention to use is found to be non-
significant in both cases. However, taking into account that:
(1) usability also exerts an indirect effect on intention to use
through consumer satisfaction and (2) the direct effect of usabil-
ity on satisfaction is strengthen when perceived risk is high, we
may conclude that the indirect effect of usability on intention to
use a website may be reinforced for high-risk perceivers. Thus,
when perceived risk is high, results suggest that the role of
usability in forming behavioral intentions becomes more relevant.
6. Discussion and managerial implications
Online stores usually expend significant sums of money to set
up and maintain their websites. It is not a trivial question since
important performance ratios may depend on users’ judgment
about the online establishment and their intention to use this
more times. However, nowadays consumers have different skills
and abilities regarding the Internet use, so that companies must
focus not only on complex and attractive website design but also
on developing easy-to-use websites. Although previous literature
has noted the importance of website usability, it is necessary to
understand the real influence of usability on key variables that
may benefit the host-firm and to find under what conditions
usability affects in a greater extent to customers’ perceptions.
The results of this work suggest that usability has a significant
impact on consumer behavior. More specifically, website usability
has been first found to directly influence customer satisfaction.
Although some authors argue that usability will not necessarily
favor a positive impression among users (Chen and Yen, 2004,
Lowry et al., 2006), this finding is consistent with most of
previous studies (e.g. Kim and Eom, 2002, Casaló et al., 2008).
Second, this work suggests that website usability also influences
the consumer intention to use a website indirectly through
consumer satisfaction. This mediating role of consumer satisfac-
tion represents a contribution to the literature since previous
authors have proposed either a direct influence of usability on
consumer loyalty to a website (e.g. Flavián et al., 2006) or a
130 D. Belanche et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 19 (2012) 124–132
non-significant relationship between usability and the attraction of
viewers to the website (Chen and Yen, 2004, Lowry et al., 2006). In
other words, a logical sequence among the study variables has
appeared. This logical sequence implies that intention to use a
website might depend on the development of consumer satisfaction,
which emerges in part as a result of the proper management of
usability on the website. As a consequence, although usability may
not be one of the most relevant direct antecedents of intention to
use a website, managers should not forget usability when designing
their websites since it still influences consumer intentions by means
of other variables such as satisfaction. In this situation, the smaller
direct effect of usability may be compensated by the indirect effect
through satisfaction.
In addition, in this work we have analyzed under which condi-
tions the role of usability is especially relevant. In this respect, due to
the fact that perceived risk plays an important role in affecting users’
decision of e-services adoption (Hsu and Chiu, 2004), we have
concentrated on how risk perceptions might moderate the influence
of usability. Indeed, because consumers have different skills in
managing and controlling a website, they may perceive different
levels of risk when interacting with a website. Our results suggest
that the influence of usability is strengthened in those consumers
that perceive a great risk, probably because usability helps overcome
these consumer fears and form a more favorable opinion of using a
website. All these findings suggest that website usability still plays a
relevant role in the e-commerce context.
6.1. Managerial implications
Thus, these findings allow us to offer some alternatives to
improve the levels of customer intention to use a website and, as
a result, the retention-rate and profits of the e-business, which
are key objectives of most organizations:
 First, due to the influence of usability on consumer behavior,
management should not give priority to the design of complex
websites full of multi-media effects but concentrate instead on
designs and structures that are simple and easy for the user to
understand. That is, the most effective website may not be the
most sophisticated one, but the most easy to use (Casaló et al.,
2007). Especially interesting is the role of usability when per-
ceived risk is high. Indeed, companies must ensure great levels of
website usability in those cases that consumers perceived as
especially uncertain. Among others, when a company is not well-
known or when credit card is required to pay an online purchase,
managers should prioritize usability in website design. For this
goal, companies should take into account aspects such as:
anticipation (i.e. websites must be designed according to the
potential visitors’ needs and requirements), consistency (websites
must be consistent with consumers’ knowledge and skills),
reversibility (i.e. websites must allow consumers to undo all the
tasks), legibility, efficiency (i.e. simplifying processes and mini-
mizing errors), visibility (i.e. hidden menus are not recom-
mended), adequacy of information (i.e. too much information
might be counterproductive) or provision of feedback (this will
reduce consumers’ uncertainty regarding the security of the
purchasing processes) among others.
 Second, due to the relevance of consumer satisfaction in forming
behavioral intentions, companies should try to maximize the
satisfaction of their customers during their interactions through
the companies’ websites. To be precise, customer satisfaction will
be generated if the customer’s expectations about the relationship
are met (e.g. Oliver, 1980). Therefore, companies should try to
identify the needs of their online customers (not only in terms of
website usability and design but also in terms of services offered,
etc.) in order to offer them what they require in an efficient way.
6.2. Limitations and future research
Despite the contributions of this work, we acknowledge several
limitations of this research that also offer some possibilities for
further research. First, in this work we have only considered
consumer perceptions regarding a specific website (the one of the
retailer that collaborated in the research), which means that extra-
polating the findings to other websites requires great care. As we
have mentioned in the data collection section, data was collected
among the users of a bus ticket e-selling service offered by a well-
known transport company in Spain, which might reduce risk
perceptions (the mean of perceived risk is quite low as can be seen
in Table 3). The election of a well-known retailer was based on data
collection convenience; however, this might represent a limitation
of the study that opens new research avenues. For instance, it would
be interesting to investigate if the role of perceived risk is different
when retailers are unknown, or analyze possible differences in the
role of risk when considering multichannel retailers versus those
operating exclusively online.
As well, the sample consists of only Spanish-speaking con-
sumers, so that an interesting route to extend this research would
be to repeat the study using a wider sample of customers
(for example in terms of different cultures). This effort might
help firms develop websites more efficiently depending on where
their potential consumers’ come from.
In addition, it would be useful to extend this work by analyzing
the influence of usability on other key variables that determine
consumer behavior depending on the product/service category
provided. For instance, it is possible that greater levels of usability
may be also associated to greater levels of perceived security in the
website, increasing consumer trust as well. This analysis would help
to clarify in more detail the relevance of website usability for
managers in different sectors. Finally, it would be also a good idea
to analyze the effects of website usability on consumer behavior
when the consumer accesses the Internet by new methods
(e.g. mobile phone, PDA, etc.). This would serve to understand the
role of usability when individuals and companies interact by means
of these new technologies.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the financial support received from
Spanish Ministry of Education (ECO2009-10157).
Appendix
USABILITY (USAB)
USAB1 In this website everything is easy to understand
USAB2 This website is simple to use, even when using it for
the first time
USAB3 It is easy to find the information I need from this
website
USAB4 The structure and contents of this website are easy to
understand
USAB5 It is easy to move within this website
USAB6 The organization of the contents of this site makes it
easy for me to know where I am when navigating it
USAB7 When I am navigating this site, I feel that I am in
control of what I can do
SATISFACTION (SAT)
SAT1 I think I made the correct decision to use this website
SAT2 The experience that I have had with this website has
been satisfactory
 D. Belanche et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 19 (2012) 124–132
SAT3 In general, I am satisfied with the way that this
website has managed interactions
SAT4 In general, I am satisfied with the service I have
received from the website
INTENTION TO USE (I_USE)
I_USE1 I have the intention to use this website again in the
near future
I_USE2 The likelihood of using this website again is high
I_USE3 If I had to use this website again, I will use it without
any doubt
PERCEIVED RISK (RISK)
RISK1 Using this website causes me to be concerned with
experiencing some kind of loss in the future
RISK2 I am vulnerable to the actions conducted by this
website
RISK3 The actions conducted by this website may cause
problems and uncertain consequences for me.
Notes: Item in italics were rejected during the scale validation process. The scales
were presented in Spanish due to respondent’s nationality.
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